Weeds – Season 3, Episode 10 – “Rob Till Called”

Weeds is officially in high gear. The stories are gelling, all our favorite characters are getting screen-time again, and, as Those Scenes indicated, we’re just hitting the eye before the storm. Aside from the 20th consecutive horrible rendition of “Little Boxes,” (I don’t think there’s been a good one since Death Cab For Cutie and Regina Spektor did it for like episodes 2 and 3 of season 2. Can’t we just go back to the old lady, or get some better performers?), this was a pretty good, if undramatic, episode. Here’s why:

1. While I’m still not getting the sort of face time I would like, it’s hard to complain when Doug, Andy and Dean are all getting at least a handful of scenes. Dean is exacting hilarious karmic revenge on Celia (though its still not been explained why that weird biker gang drove him off a cliff), Doug is at his best when bullshitting city councils or the like, and Andy’s speech about how he and the boys all thought Nancy killed Peter was hilarious. I’d like a little more season 1-esque humor from Doug and Andy, and I wish Andy were a more integral character to the narrative, but at this point, there isn’t really a central conflict for him to be involved in anyway (more on that in a bit). So while not ideal, the involvement of these 3 Amigos was a big step up from what we’ve been getting recently.

2. Celia is the character I love to hate most on television. She’s an absolutely despicable mother and a selfish human being, but when it comes down to it, she really is throwing her life aside to take care of Dean, which I find incredible. I think it makes her the most realistic character on the show because she is so flawed, and yet in many ways, redeemable. Elizabeth Perkins is a terrific actress and I’ve really grown to appreciate Celia’s involvement in the show– which, as Those Scenes showed us, is about to skyrocket up because it just has to be her that hires the P.I., right? Who else would screw with Nancy like that (other than Sullivan– count it!)

3. Though they only got one scene, it was good to see Conrad and Silas, and as Warsh and I always note, new character pairings are compelling and refreshing 9 out of 10 times. I wish these two were more involved with Nancy, as there has always been a lot of tension between she and Conrad, and some of the shows most dramatic moments have erupted from her relationship with Silas. But if we can’t get them with Nancy, I do enjoy watching them develop a nice apprentice/master relationship, which I hope will come into play more somewhere down the line.

4. The Chronic business is booming! Catholics, Frat Boys, Water slide riders– everyone’s buying the herb, and Nancy is raking it in. For the first time ever, Nancy is not in serious financial trouble…which means she’s going to be a whole different kind of trouble real soon because there’s never a dull moment in the life of Nancy Botwin. As I mentioned, I think this episode was the calm before the storm and things are going to blow up real soon– remember, we’re already on Episode 10 out of 15– if something big is going to happen, it needs to happen now.

Which brings me to my final point– what is this season about? If season 1 was Nancy figuring out how to get by as a drug dealer, coping with her widowhood and terrible parenting, and season 2 was about the triangle between she, Peter and Conrad, what is season 3 about? I honestly couldn’t tell you, as there has only been a series of small conflicts strung together, and not one central narrative arc we’ve been following all along. I enjoy these individual episodes because I love the characters, but where is this show going? What do all these episodes mean as a cohesive whole season? I love Weeds, but something needs to happen NOW, or this entire season will have been a total waste. We’re 66% done already, and I feel like nothing has really happened! Things have been too easy for Nancy, the stakes not high enough, the drama not tense enough. Where is the conflict? Hopefully, next week’s episode will answer these questions, but if it doesn’t, we’re looking at easily the worst season of Weeds yet, without question.

Grade: B